Blood Curdling
by canadiankandy
Summary: A blood curdling scream filled the silver SUV as it was smashed off the road by an 18 wheeler."
1. Fear

"Seth, you're driving too fast."

"Chill out mom, I'm driving the speed limit."

"Seth... no, you're driving way over the speed limit. And you need to turn down the music."

"Sure it's Greenday, not my favorite band but I think they deserve to be blasted every once in a while. Besides, it's not that loud."

"It's loud enough to be a distraction. And it's raining and it's dark. That can be a deadly combitnation!"

"Yet again, chill out. Don't sound so panicked, it's freaking me out."

"Seth-"

"Don't worry mom, it's just a little slippery."

"Watch out!"

"Mom! Mom! I can't control-"

A blood curdling scream filled the silver SUV as it was smashed off the road by an 18 wheeler.

Sandy was standing in the Cohen's humongeous kitchen, chopping carrots for a stir fry and randomly answering questions that Ryan had about his homework that had been spread out all over the gigantic kitchen table. They laughed about something that had happened to Seth that day which caused a reaction in which Kirsten made Seth tag along with her to the store.

Four and a half hours later Sandy was getting worried. Kirsten had promised that she would be back within one hour of her departure but his wife and son had not returned yet. Sandy looked at the phone and grabbed it off the hook. He dialed Kirsten's cell phone and sighed when he got the machine.

_"Hi this is Kirsten, I can't find my phone right now so leave a message and I'll get back to you after I page it a few times." _

Sandy smiled at the cute greeting and he left a quick message telling Kirsten to phone him as soon as possible. He then dialed Seth's cell phone and a slight pang of panick hit him when Seth's machine came on too.

_"Hey there, this is Seth... well, I guess you know that because you phoned my cell phone... but maybe you didn't know that this was my cell phone because you're in the CIA and you're trying to call me and get information on all the nut jobs that live in Orange County... But if you're a friend or relative or my dad then leave a message." _

Sandy left the same message that he had left on Kirsten's phone but even he could tell that his voice was more panicked. He looked at the clock hanging on the wall of the kitchen. _11:47_. He sighed and decided that there was no use waiting up, there was probably a perfectly good explination to why his wife and son were gone so long and that he really shouldn't lose sleep over the matter. He slowly climbed the stairs to his bedroom and he took a short shower, pulled on some boxers and climbed into his huge bed and soon fell into a fitfull sleep.


	2. Crisis

The next afternoon Ryan sat in the middle of his physics class and started to drift off when the shrill sound of a cell phone ringing startled him awake. He looked around to hear where the cell phone was ringing from when he realized all eyes were on him. He blushed and quickly grabbed the cell phone from his bag, in hopes of hanging it up before the teacher had a chance to get to him. He grabbed it but it was too late. Mr. Carlton was standing right in front of him glaring and holding out his hand.

"Hand it over Mr. Atwood." Ryan sighed and handed over the still ringing cell phone to his teacher. Ryan ran his fingers through his hair and sighed as Mr. Carlton opened the flip phone and answered it.

"Ryan Atwood's phone." The teacher said in a smug voice. There was a pause as the teacher listened to the person on the other end. Ryan saw all of the smug smiles of the other students in his class. "Ryan is in the middle of a physics lesson..." He paused again and then a look of seriousness crossed Mr. Carlton's face. "Oh my... yes, yes of course... I'll send him straight there. Yes of course. My sympathies Mr. Cohen."

Ryan felt his blood run cold. Why had Sandy phoned his cell phone in the middle of the day? What if something happened to Seth or Kirsten? Come to think of it, he hadn't seen either of them in the morning before he left for school.

"Mr. Atwood, you need to go straight to Newport Hospital." Mr. Carlton said. Ryan felt like someone had punched him in the stomach.

"Why? What happened?" He whispered. He didn't care if the rest of the kids heard what had happened to his family. They would find out anyways. They always did.

"Your mother and brother were in a very serious accident. I'll explain to Dr. Kim what happened." With that Mr. Carlton commanded the rest of the students to pay attention to his teachings as Ryan grabbed his binder and bag and ran out of his classroom.

Sandy sat in a lush hospital chair, tears running down his tan face as he hung up on Caleb. He had already phoned Ryan, Lindsay, Hailey and Jimmy and Caleb had been the last on his list for now. He sat and looked down the long hallway that was marked _"Authorized Personnel Only"_ and Sandy was not yet authorized. He then heard the door open behind him and he turned around and saw Lindsay and Ryan rushing through the doors. Sandy hopped up and hugged them both.

"Are they okay?" Were the first words out of Lindsay's mouth. Sandy shook his head in desperation.

"I don't know yet. The doctors are still working on them."

"How did you find out?" Ryan whispered.

"The hospital phoned me about twenty minutes ago."

"What happened?" Lindsay asked.

"Uh..." Sandy choked back tears, "The SUV was in the ditch... and a semi-truck driver radioed in. He thinks that he hit them around 8:30... But he was knocked out from the impact of the crash." Lindsay covered her mouth in horror and Ryan had to catch his breath. Sandy lowered his eyes as the two teenagers tried to absorb the thought that a wife, a daughter, a mother, a sister, a brother, a nephew, a grandson and two friends were hanging onto life by one small thread.


	3. Discovery

Hailey walked through the halls of the hospital and millions of memories came rushing back to her. So many times where she had to come and found her older sister drunk and hurt or she had been picked up by Kirsten after a night of wild partying. She remembered one time coming here and finding that Kirsten and been knocked out at a party and Jimmy had carried his girlfriend all the way to the ER for treatment. Jimmy was too drunk to drive so he had called Hailey in hopes of a ride home. But an even more vivid memory was of when Hailey had been hit by a car and she was not allowed to leave the hospital unless someone came to pick her up. And she knew that if she phoned her parents they would ask what she had been doing. And "I was piss drunk" was not something she was going to tell her very strict but blind parents. So she phoned her sister. And not only picked her up but nursed her little sister back to health.

But now she was a grown up. She had a very good job, lots of money and she was very successful as a fashion designer... and her sister that had supported her in her time of need so she phoned her boss at work and told him that she would be taking an extended period of time off and she boarded the earliest flight possible.

Hailey was now standing behind a huge white door marked with a sign that said, "Waiting Room for Emergency Room". She looked through the small window and saw that Sandy, Ryan and her father were fast asleep in huge chairs. She then saw a redhead girl holding her father's hand. _A new wife?_ She had to admit, she wouldn't know. She hadn't talked to anybody in California since she had left. She had really been too busy, trying to get her fashion line off the ground. She quietly pushed the door open and cringed as the red head girl opened her eyes.

"Who are you?" Hailey quietly demanded. She was never a subtle person.

"Lindsay... and you are?"

"Hailey Nichol. Why are you holding my father's hand? Aren't you a little young to be gold digging?" Lindsay looked shocked at Hailey's rude greeting.

"Uh... I'm holding his hand because his daughter is bordering on death... And I'm not a gold digger. Caleb is my dad." It was Hailey's turn to be shocked.

"What? What are you talking about? This man is _my_ father!" Lindsay looked at Hailey for a minute and then smiled.

"Oh! Hailey! Oh my God, it's so great to finally meet you!" Caleb woke up at the sound of Lindsay's excited voice. It took him a few minutes to register who was talking but then he saw Hailey and he groaned.

"Oh shit." He whispered.

"Damn straight "oh shit"! You totally owe me an explanation dad. Who is this girl and why is she saying that she's my sister?" Hailey demanded. Caleb stood. He was going to have to go through this whole ordeal again.

"This is your sister Lindsay." He muttered. Hailey's eyes grew huge and he nodded, "I'm sorry you had to find out like this baby... but I only found out myself a little while ago."

"And no one felt the need to tell me I have another sister!" Hailey shrieked, which caused Ryan and Sandy to wake up.

"We tried but no one could get a hold of you darling. Your phone number had changed."

"I left a message with Seth about my new number!" Hailey cried. All five persons looked at each other and sighed. No wonder no one had found out about it. Seth generally didn't pass on messages that he took down. Hailey sighed and looked at Sandy and Ryan before another light bulb turned on in her head. "Wait a minute..." She whispered, "I would have noticed if mom was pregnant again..." Hailey looked fearfully at Caleb, "Dad?"

"It was a mistake Hailey... I promise..." Hailey started to move away from her father, "But I wouldn't take it back." Everyone stopped and looked at Caleb, "I wouldn't take it back because it gave me a wonderful and beautiful daughter that has so much potential." Caleb looked at Lindsay who looked shocked. As did everyone else.

"You know what? Fine, I have another sister. That just means that you're exactly the man I thought you were." Hailey pouted and slumped down into a chair beside Ryan.

"You know what Hailey? You have no right to do this. Your sister and nephew may _die_ and you're just worried about your father. He apologized, he regrets that he cheated on the love of his life, but you can't make this about your own drama when you need to be focused on Kirsten and Seth. So please, forget about it. Lindsay is your sister. She's a wonderful girl and I highly recommend getting to know her." Everyone stared at Ryan in shock.

"I think that's the most I've ever heard you speak Ryan..." Hailey smiled at her adopted nephew and then smiled at Lindsay, "I'm sorry I was so rude to you... I'm just my father's daughter." Lindsay smiled and nodded.

"Apology accepted."


	4. Reality

Ryan was by himself. Sandy, Lindsay, Caleb and Hailey had gone to the hospital's cafeteria to get some food for themselves and Ryan claimed that he wasn't hungry so he stayed and waited for the group to return. He was looking at the doors where he and Lindsay had burst through and he was caught by surprise when he saw Alex and Summer and Marissa come running in. He stood and stared at the three girls.

"You heard?" He whispered as all three girls hugged him.

"Yeah, Zach told me that Stacey told him that Miranda told her that you had gotten a phone call during physics and that Cohen and Kirsten were in like, a bad accident. So I called Coop who called Alex, cause I guess that she's friends with Cohen and yeah... Are they okay?" Summer sighed at the end of her long speech.

"We don't know yet..." Ryan whispered. Marissa looked at her friend and sighed.

"You look tired... How long have you been here?"

"About five hours. Hailey came... and your dad is on his way."

"My dad is coming?" Ryan nodded at Marissa and then he looked at Alex.

"Where is everyone?" Alex asked.

"They went to go get food." He murmured and he motioned towards the seats, "You missed Hailey finding out about Lindsay." He said, trying to lighten up the mood. Summer and Marissa looked at each other and smiled.

"Darn, that would have been interesting, considering Hailey has like, 100 times more rage than Kirsten and Kirsten threw a vase at her own dad's head." Summer smiled and Marissa giggled. Alex smiled at the two girls and then looked down the hallway to see a doctor heading towards them. Alex nudged Marissa and pointed at the doctor who looked somber. All four teens stood up and the doctor looked at them curiously.

"Is one of you Sandy Cohen?" He asked.

"Uh, no, but I'm his son Ryan. Do you have news about Kirsten and Seth?"

"I do, but I cannot divulge it to anybody other than Sandy. When he comes back tell the receptionist and she'll page me." Ryan stared at the doctor in horror as he started to walk away and Alex felt her heart break.

Alex grabbed the arm of the doctor and he looked at the tattooed girl in astonishment.

"Please, doctor, Ryan's family is in there... I'm sure Sandy will be here at any moment. And he wont mind if your just tell us if they're okay..." The doctor looked at the desperate teens and he sighed and turned his body back to them.

"I have good news and bad news. Seth needs to go for a few risky surgeries and we're not sure if his system will let him make it through these operations but his prognosis is optimistic."

"Okay. So what's the good news?" Alex asked. The doctor sighed and shook his head at the naive teen.

"I'm afraid that _was_ the good news. Kirsten on the other hand, has been put on life support... the chances of brain damage are high and we're not sure if she'll make it." The four teens spun around as they heard Hailey cry out and try and grab Sandy, who had lost all his strength and fallen to the floor. Caleb's pale face was formed in a horrified face and Lindsay was crying. Hailey was crying and she rubbed the back of the one man whose entire life was shattered in an instant.


	5. Hope

Jimmy had arrived. He was in the hospital with many memories and he didn't like it. But now he was focused on Kirsten and Seth. Kirsten, the beautiful woman that had graced his life for many years and been a wonderful girlfriend, friend and almost a sister to him. And now she was in danger. He knew he had to be there for her. Seth, the boy who Marissa had grown up next door to for her whole life. The goofy kid who could bring laughter to almost any situation. And now he was no longer able to cheer anybody up. It was a scary thought. Never seeing either of them again.

Jimmy sighed and pushed the door open to the waiting room. He looked around and noted each person there. Sandy, Ryan, Lindsay, Caleb, Summer, Marissa, Alex, and last but not least, Hailey. His breath caught at the sight of her. Everyone was looking at his with curious eyes, especially Hailey. He couldn't take his eyes off her. Until Marissa stood up and hugged her father tightly.

"Hi dad." She whispered.

"It's good to see you honey." He kissed his daughter's cheek and he then waved at the rest of the crew, "Hi guys. Have you heard anything?" Everyone who was related to Seth and Kirsten looked away. The only people who could maintain eye contact were Summer, Marissa and Alex. He looked to all three of them and begged them with his eyes to get them to throw him a bone. Alex finally sighed and shook her head.

"The prognosis isn't good." She whispered. Just then a doctor came down the hallway. Everyone stood to greet them.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Halloway, Seth's surgeon. I'm happy to tell you that Seth's operations went perfectly and that we believe he's going to pull through and be back to normal in a few months." Everyone sighed huge sighs of relief.

"Can we see him?" Ryan asked and the doctor looked at the entire group and smiled slightly.

"He's still a little out of it from the drugs but I think I can let family in. If you'll follow me." Sandy, Ryan, Lindsay, Caleb and Hailey followed the doctor down the long hallway and they soon turned a corner and they were out of sight.

Jimmy turned back to look at the three remaining girls. "What about Kirsten?"

"She's under going a bunch of tests so we can't see her... They don't think she's going to make it." Marissa whispered. Jimmy sighed and shook his head.

"Oh God... Do they know exactly what happened?" Jimmy asked.

"Uh, Ryan said that the police came and said that they were driving down highway 4 and they were thrown into a skid on the rainy road and they ran headlong into a 18-wheeler and then were thrown into the ditch. That happened at around 8:30. The driver was knocked out and he didn't wake up until 10:00 this morning. He radioed for help and it took them a little while to get out there but they managed to pull Kirsten and Seth from the car and get them to the hospital." Summer reported.

"Dear God." Jimmy muttered.

"Excuse me? Is one of you Sandy Cohen? I have information regarding Kirsten Cohen..." The four remaining people spun around to see a dark haired, gorgeous doctor looking at the group.


	6. Pain

Sandy stared down at his son as he lay in the huge hospital bed. His son's hair was wet and matted and dry blood was clumped in it. His face had large scratches across it, as did his arms and neck. His nose had a bandage on it and his arm had a yellow cast on it. His neck was in a brace and his ankle had a pink cast on it.

"Hey son, you awake?" Caleb whispered to his grandson.

"God? Is that you?" Came the groggy voice of Seth. Everyone let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Well, I like to think so, but your mother and father keep telling me otherwise." Everyone in the room laughed at the not-so-funny joke, just for the sake of laughing.

_"That feels better."_ Sandy thought. His son smiled and he tried to sit up but failed. "Just stay down Seth. You need your rest." There was a quick knock at the door and the group turned to see a police officer standing there.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt, but I need to get a statement from your son." Everyone looked upset at the thought and Sandy shook his head.

"My son just woke up. Can this please wait?"

"I'd really like to speak with him now."

"I'm sorry officer but Seth will not be speaking right now. He just woke up and his family would like to have some time with him." Lindsay stood up to the uniformed man and Ryan smiled at her.

"Young lady..."

"You can have your time with him soon. Just let us say hello to him before you kick us out." Hailey told the officer. He finally nodded and walked away from the room.

"Who's all here?" Seth asked.

"Uh, your dad, Ryan, grandpa, Lindsay and me."

"Who's me?" Seth muttered. His eyes were half closed and he couldn't see very well, "Mom?" Everyone looked at each other awkwardly.

"Uh, no honey, its Aunt Hailey." Hailey whispered.

"Where's mom? She's not..." Seth cried in horror. "Oh god, please tell me she's okay." He was truly upset now.

"No, Seth, Seth, moms in another room. The doctors are still doing some tests-"

"Actually, Sandy, Kirsten is out of tests. I need to talk to you privately." The family turned to see Jimmy standing at the door. Sandy looked at the expression on Jimmy's face and he couldn't read anything. No fear or happiness was in the mans eyes. Sandy stood and left the room with Jimmy.

"What's up?" Sandy asked, as soon as they were out of ear shot from the group in Seth's room.

"Kirsten underwent a bunch of tests. They said that there was no brain damage-"

"Thank God!" Sandy exclaimed, he was excited until he saw the look on Jimmy's face, "Oh, God, what's wrong?"

"They think that she may be paralyzed."


End file.
